1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guard for use in association with a baseball or softball bat as a means to teach a batter to safely bunt a baseball or softball. This guard is for use in practice only and is not to be used in actual ball games. The bunt guard attaches to the tapered portion of the bat via friction fit. The bunt guard is provided with a shield that is held in spaced apart relationship with the bat so that a batter's hand can insert behind the shield when the batter is holding a baseball bat properly in preparation to bunt a baseball.
2. Description of the Related Art
To properly bunt a baseball, a baseball player must grip the handle of a baseball bat with his "off" hand and grip the bat approximately 2/3 of the way up the bat with his "on" hand. The "on" hand is the right hand for a right handed batter who is batting right handed, or alternately, is the left hand for a left handed batter who is batting left handed. If the "on" hand is not properly placed on the bat with the hand behind the bat and pinching the sides of the bat, fingers and hand of the player's "on" hand can be struck by a baseball as the batter attempts to bunt the baseball.
Many baseball players never learn how to bunt a baseball properly because of their fear of having their fingers and hand hit by the baseball or smashed between the baseball and the baseball bat when they attempt to bunt. The player's fear prevents the player from learning the proper finger placement of his "on" hand onto the bat that would help to avoid such injury. Also, even if a new player is not afraid of being injured, often he will be injured before he learns the proper way to grip the bat when he tries to bunt.
Other devices have been employed to assist in training a player to bunt. However, none of the prior devices attach to the player's regular baseball bat and allow the player to move his hands from the normal batting grip to the proper position on the bat for bunting. Also, none of the other prior devices do this while providing adequate protection to the players hand to prevent injury from the baseball while the player is learning to bunt.